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Britain’s chocolate industry has undergone a revolution. Not long ago we were the laughing stock of Europe with our chocolate’s high milk and vegetable fat content. Our idea of pushing the boat out was a box of Milk Tray or After Eights. The only bastion of quality chocolate I can remember from my youth is Thorntons. Its shops, packed to the rafters in the run-up to Easter and Christmas, always felt a cut above, and its staff always seemed passionate and knowledgeable. Today specialist manufacturers and shops have opened all over the place, so Thorntons must fight for its share in an increasingly competitive landscape. To see how it has adapted, I thought I’d compare our flagship chocolate brand – the largest independent confectionery company in Britain – with France’s equivalent, La Maison du Chocolat, which conveniently have shops within skipping distance of each other.

La Maison du Chocolat The La Maison shop, cleverly located opposite Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly, had filled its windows with fresh macaroons. Two beaming girls at the door offered trays of caramels to passers-by. Inside, there was a reverential hush, and the low lighting added to the mood of anticipation. Even in this relatively small space I was faced with six members of staff, and a sea of chocolate of every possible variety between us. This is no place for the faint-hearted, nor those looking for a lunchtime chocolate hit. The most celebrated chocolates here, the ganaches, are tiny cubes of chocolate truffle with intense whipped chocolate centres. Its Tasse de Chocolat is a tube of chocolate pearls which, when melted, promise 'an onctuous [sic] intense chocolate drink, served hot or cold’. Fantastic.

Thorntons My visit to Thorntons coincided with Mother’s Day, and the windows of the Oxford Street store were filled with cheesy photos of Susan, Lucy and Angela, all willing participants in a 'Mums Appreciation Society’ campaign. Harmless enough, but hardly the stuff of specialists. Inside, all traces of the care and specialism I remember from my youth had been eradicated. In your face, as soon as I entered, was a massive wall branded 'Treats for you’ – chunky choccies, chewy toffees, two for £1.50. The deal of the week was a huge 583g chocolate selection box, half price at only £6.99. To be fair, they were flying off the shelves. Edy behind the till was cheery, offering a wrapping service for an extra £1 a box in three colours of paper. Behind Edy were more expensive chocs, the most costly being a £26.99 tasting selection, but nobody seemed to be bothering with those and they were awkward to reach anyway – merchandising and display is the shop’s real downfall. Someone may as well have backed a 10-ton truck of chocolate and promotional clutter and plonked it in the middle of Oxford Street. No sensitivity or creative flair here. There was also, I have to say, a desperate lack of good taste. Then I noticed a poster behind Edy’s head: 'Thorntons. Celebrating 100 years.’

Verdict Back home, I read online about Thornton’s anniversary (though not on the company’s own website, which is strangely lacking in the firm’s history). This year indeed marks a century since Joseph William Thornton opened his first 'Chocolate Kabin’ shop in Sheffield. Wikipedia tells me that 'trays of Mackintosh’s Toffee Deluxe were broken into pieces by assistants using toffee hammers and pincers and put into waxed bags on the brass weighing scales. Behind the counter there were mirrors from floor to ceiling, giving the shop a classy air.’ The first Maison du Chocolat shop did not open until 1977, yet the difference between them is remarkable. Today, Thorntons generates a significant percentage of its profits by selling to supermarkets, and the new chief executive, Jonathan Hart, announcing an 8.5 per cent decline in profits in February, said he wanted to conduct a store-by-store review to weed out (ie close) underperforming stores. To my mind he should be focusing on how best to revive the trust we once placed in the brand. Despite Edy’s jolly smile, and regardless of my possibly unfair comparison with La Maison du Chocolat (which I know is pitching to a different market), the Thorntons I visited was a joke, its specialist status sacrificed in favour of cut-price commodities. I understand the centenary falls in October; so, Mr Hart, why not use the time to give us back something Joseph William would have been proud of?